For the British/European experience of contracting archaeology go to
http://www.museum-london.org.uk/MOLsite/menu.htm and read the papers
from the EAA conference at Santiago de Compostella. In a strict sense
contract arcaheology (ie individuals working on short dig specific
contracts for government/local authorities) goes back to early this
century - the change is that in recent decades in the US and later in
Britain it became tied up with competative tendering and planning law. I
am sure the americans can give you plenty of info but remember the
division between federal and individual ownership in the US (ie you can
pretty do much what you like on privately owned land) is quite different
to corporate Europe.
paul courtney
 
 
In message <[log in to unmask]>, geoff carver <GCarver@T-
ONLINE.DE> writes
>just when and where did "contract archaeology" (excavation by private
>companies/individuals) spring up? official german debates on whether or not
>"contracting" is a good idea or workable tend to be kind of vague on their data
>in this respect, and i'd kind of like to set the record straight once and for
>all - any ideas?
>
>geoff carver
>[log in to unmask]
>http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
 
--
Paul Courtney